Flame Stag: Tales from the Hot Side (Republish)
by FireballofDstrXn
Summary: The flaming deer powerhouse, Flame Stag, finally gets in his own (and very first) solo series made exclusively by me! He, now a normal reploid while back as a Hunter, gets to unleash his flames of glory in the series of short stories and poems based on his very own adventures. My first fanfic, so please let me know how it goes, but be kindly! [PART 1 DONE, part 2 WIP/HIATUS]
1. Preamble

**** DISCLAIMER: I do neither own any Mega Man X characters (including Flame Stag), nor their settings nohow. They all belong to Capcom, and besides, I solely create these stories just for the purpose of entertainment.****

 ***AUTHOR'S NOTE: [First publishe** **d on** **2/12/2018, and now r** **epublished as of 1/06/2019 due to lack of reviews, otherwise just for updates]** Please pardon my lack of coherence. I tend to get pretty slow in ideas and writing, so please bear with me. I will constantly review and, if needed, edit and update the chapters until you and I are satisfied. Also, provide a review so hopefully, I will do better.*

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 **PREAMBLE**

"There's little to know pretty much about my official backstory as with many other reploids beside X and Zero, but alas, they yet seemed to remain as lesser-known in spite of it for some unknown reasons.

On the other hand, in the fan's _(which is the author stated above)_ headcannon, what I'm about to bring you now is something pretty more exciting, and I hope you folks will enjoy. For this preface, I'm going to bring you up first of my exclusive biosketch and a short write-up of what this whole anthology will be about.

As you know, my name is Flame Stag, a deer-based reploid, and my combat specialties in which I was built for are fire and speed based unarmed combat _(close to being an expert in mixed martial arts!)_. In case you're wondering what I was at, I was actually a service member of the military-police organization, the Maverick Hunters, founded by a human . Here, it comprises of mostly reploids whose mission is to protect earth against threats involving hostile reploids and mechaniloids, called the Mavericks. Since I was built as a high-performance reploid, I was placed in the 17th Elite Unit in which I used to serve along with X, Zero, and the friend of mine, Boomer Kuwanger.

Sigma, Dr. Cain's first reploid, used to be our commander of the Hunters in the past. However, by the time he defeated the maverick Zero (before he switched sides with X and the Hunters) in battle, he was infected with a virus, and he officially gone maverick as of that time. As a result, he, then and now a commandant of the mavericks, had become nothing more of a major problem nowadays…hot pitiful was that. During the First Maverick War where he began his first rebellion, Boomer Kuwanger asked me to join, but I strongly declined the offer initially because I just did not want to go along with his harmful deeds. But, when Sigma gave it a shot however, he had given me something that I could not deny, and thus I reluctantly accept the offer… When X defeated him in his palace though, I immediately went into AWOL (which stands for 'absence without leave') and was not seen for a long time.

The reason of my decision of joining Sigma's revolt was that he had just offered me a second chance to fight X one-on-one in battle, just out of my curiosity to brush up my fighting skills. So when the latter had showed up in the volcano where my task was to set up an eruption which the X-Hunters claimed to start a new Ice Age, I fought him until my defeat, but luckily, he had spared my life.

I feel so unhappy...

…and guilty as well.

Looking back over these years...I can plainly see that I just didn't do too well. Pride, anger, and maybe an excess of curiosity have always been my flaws that'd got in my way thru my judgement. Being a fire-based reploid, I was claimed to be one of the most powerful built to last, and I like to show off most of the time, but... I would find rather counterproductive as I was claimed to be too powerful to be that way. So, I would try as hard to the best of my ability to not to lean back to that side anymore now.

Furthermore, loyalty to maverick Sigma nowadays served me no purpose but to make more of someone who's in the wrong side. Well, here's the problem: I was always being too confident on myself as this had just got in my way with my judgement and of course, made a fool out of me. It's a pity that Kuwanger's misplaced logic, which I probably suspect more likely, had made him pledging himself to Sigma. I feel heartily sorry for him, and I would hope he would be the same (if it was for X to spare his life upon defeating him). By the way, I was not meant to plan on setting off the volcano as the X-Hunters intended to do as part of their plans. I mean...There were things that I shouldn't have done...Those things I could've done for the sake of humanity that were yet left undone. Well, there just things of the past, and here is when I'm about to go thru changes now...

Here, back at the Maverick Hunter base right after my second encounter with X at the volcano, he, Kuwanger, and Dr. Cain approached us, and I finally had a chance to make amends for all my past wrongs. Then several moments later, I finally turned back to the good side by reuniting with X and from that time on, I'm now officially back on my job as a Maverick Hunter Elite.

That is pretty enough of my backstory already, and let's have some fun in which I'm about to bring you something in particular, in which most fans would hopefully be intrigued.

The title, "Tales from the Hot Side" is an anthology series which I'm the main character, and it comprised of stories, both within and maybe outside of the Mega Man X verse. It's a mix of one-shots and miniseries, mostly 'what ifs,' others maybe crossovers, all of which based on my very own adventures as an 'ex-maverick.' Those who are fans of me and even Mega Man and X, will hopefully be so thrilled to check this out.

So, what're you waiting for? Come on in and let's dish out the hot stuff together!"

 **-From yours truly, Flame Stag, the Heat Knuckle Champion and ex-Maverick.**

Next: Picking Up the Pieces (part 1 of 3)


	2. Picking up the Pieces (Part 1 of 3)

****DISCLAIMER: _See preamble._ ****

* * *

 **WHAT IF...** **X would hand over his task to Flame Stag which he will get take on the X-Hunters to recover Zero's parts? As the latter redeemed himself from his past wrongdoings, he, now back on his good self again, gets down to the business of bringing back his honor for the sake of X and himself as well. It's part one of three of the "Picking Up The Pieces" miniseries where Flame Stag will begin his first 'on-the-mission' training, starting at his home base, the volcanic zone. Here, he'll confront Serges to retrieve Zero's first part.**

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 _In the year 21XX, it's been around six months after the First Maverick War, and Mega Man X has taken office as the new leader of the Maverick Hunter headquarters followed by Zero's death. He deployed his other hunters to the abandoned factory to take down the rest of the mavericks. However, by the time X just finished taking down the giant mechaniloid here, he found out that something else has been catching up to him even further all of the sudden…_

 _A Second Maverick war has just broke out, and a new group of three mysterious mavericks, called the X-Hunters, have sent out the new group of mavericks to terrorize the world while holding up Zero's pieces in efforts to revive him and then make him accomplish their evil takeover. Therefore, X, now commander of the Maverick Hunters' 17th Elite Unit, gets down to the serious business of stopping those mavericks while bringing back the parts of his friend in hopes of perhaps bring him back to life._

So thus far, X has defeated the first maverick general, Flame Stag, formerly his fellow Hunter, in the fight at the volcano. However at a same time, Flame Stag, all of the sudden, was finally able to regain his true senses. So what did X do? He decided to spare his life instead of destroying him completely.

Back on the Maverick Hunter base, X, Dr. Cain and Boomer Kuwanger (his longtime friend), took the heavily damaged Flame Stag to the laboratory bunker (beneath his office) where they then spent long hours doing a series of repairs, upgrades, and a system-wide reboot to his system. When Flame Stag was resting in the capsule meanwhile, the former three asked him whether they had a good time to talk to him. He then agreed and finally went on to confess for all the past mistakes he had made, especially for his decision of joining Sigma's rebellion. After all of that, Cain and Boomer sent the newly recharged Flame Stag to the training bunker where he then began working out while X was out on the next mission to take on the next maverick. The two had left.

At the start of this new tale of redemption, Flame Stag, now back on his good side as a normal reploid, is hoping to get back together with X and the Hunters again while going through changes in his life. From this second chance with them, he promises to keep his word and himself away from the maverick side. Let alone being a fire reploid, Flame Stag appears to be one of the strongest of all maverick hunters, and he understood that he's too powerful to be 'hot headed' like most other fire-based reploids. So he decides to get a fresh start on his first day back on the job as this story goes.

 **FLAME STAG: PICKING UP THE PIECES**

(part 1 of 3)

 **Year:** 21XX

 **Mission:** Retrieve the spare parts for Zero's body.

 **Objective 1:** Retrieve the first part of Zero.

* * *

On the next day in the morning…

Inside the Maverick Hunter base, X and the slender horned beetle reploid, Boomer Kuwanger, are walking across the corridor until they found a door to Flame Stag's office. The blue-armored Hunter places his hand against a data scanner next to the sliding metal door, and a voice replies as the door slides open. "Access Approved...Welcome, X."

Going through the door, X and Boomer are now at the office. The place isn't as big though and has all the essentials, like multiple chairs, an electronic couch, a bookshelf, the desk, and a metal door, which is the elevator, nearby the desk to the right. On the front wall, there're photos of Flame Stag during his old years as a hunter (including one with his friend that was Boomer Kuwanger). Other than those things, he's nowhere to be found however.

The two then head to the elevator, and X presses the 'down' button. Moments later, a red down arrow on the very top of the door begins to blink before the double doors slide open. The two then head inside, and here, X presses the down button, and the doors then slid shut. Within a few seconds of the descending, the doors are then sliding open, and as they head out, they're now at the training bunker. The doors are then slid shut. This's a huge place where is sort of a complicated high-tech mix of a weight room, obstacle course, and a boxing ring, and this is where Flame Stag does all of his workouts and physical training before and between missions. Wandering around the room are some friendly mechaniloids, who seem to be helping with the training equipment and sometimes training him.

X and Boomer are entering the weight room. Suddenly, a loud, gruff-sounding music, or to be more precise, the song "Deaf Forever" from a British rock band Motorhead, can be heard throughout the room. Spotted near the weight rack is their fellow hunter, Flame Stag, who's lifting a 250 lb. dumbbell with his right hand. He is a big, tall, bipedal, broad-chested reploid, clad with ignition vents on his wrists and legs that shoot out flames around his fists and legs. His bulky body's made of a now heat-resistant orange metal with slightly muscular arms and legs, has blue chest and leg armor, and has a rather intimidating looking, deer-like head whose 'antlers' were made from flames shooting out of the two green broilers.

As Flame Stag spotted the two hunters, he picks up the remote the lower the volume of the music, so to make it easier for the three to hear each other. He remotely turns off his own flaming antlers that shot out from both vents on his head as the needle in the pressure meter mounted to his upper chest falls to its lowest mark. He then turns his attention to the two while still lifting his dumbbell.

"Hi, Flame Stag," Boomer Kuwanger greeted, "How're you feeling now?"

"I'm started to feel much better now than during the time of my recuperation, Boomer," he said with a gruff, powerful, but genteel baritone. "As I checked the cardio-monitor lately, it looks like… my systems' in top work condition, and thus…I'm feeling much more in control now."

"That sounds really great. I like it like that," replied Boomer, "Careful lifting that big dumbbell."

"Ohh… I always am," after performing few more reps, Flame Stag puts down the dumbbell to the floor, waves his right arm around to warm it up, and then regains his posture while looking at X. Meanwhile, he seems to taking notice by the latter's new look of his arm parts…

"Hmm… I see that you've got a new upgrade to your arm parts, X. They look pretty nice…"

"Thanks, Flame…and actually by the way, it was Dr. Light who did all of my armor upgrades."

"I'm pretty glad you've such a great doctor, who I guess, took care of you since the beginning of your time…"

"Of course he was alright."

"How did your mission go thus far by the way?"

"Crazy like always, Flame Stag," said X after he took a quick sigh of relief. "I took on that vicious maverick, Wheel Gator, at the Dino Tank last night, and afterwards, the engine has suddenly stopped. So I guess, the city appears to be safe for now…"

"Ahh…Poor Gator," said Flame Stag with a slight rumble thru this throat. "He seemed to have serious problems with his impulses, but now… he's pretty good as dead for the safety of all."

"Yeah."

"So what's the next program for today, X? I heard that you're in the middle of the mission taking out the rest of the mavericks while searching for Zero's parts."

"You're correct, Flame Stag. Now that you're back in my league, what you're about to have from now on is something that could interest you the most. You'll have a greater chance to improve your training by not only spending time working out, but also to take part of my missions as well. Yes, you got that right… On-the-mission-training. Soon and beyond, you'll be in much better fighting shape. Are you ready to start your big day?" X said to Flame Stag.

"Yes, sir. I'm always ready," replied Flame Stag with a humble grin. "...and thank you so much for that offer. I was dreaming about that all along when I was sleeping inside the repairing capsule, but I know how to take it easy anyway."

"I know, and I hope you are," stated X. "…and you're welcome as well."

Let alone that he was a rookie hunter, and yet his ferocious fighting and above average tactical thinking had made him one with such great potential, hence his placement in the Elites. In spite of his fiery and rather intimidating stature although, he's remarkably a gentle giant with a heart of a warrior while retaining his rather serious and laid back demeanor.

"Speaking of that besides, would it be suitable if I could take on the X-Hunters to get Zero's parts for you while you're after the maverick generals? I'll give each of those to you promptly once I defeat them one-by-one, and then I'll leave all the rest to you onwards."

"W-Wait a sec, Flame Stag…While I'm pretty sure your abilities would be as helpful, are you sure you wanna do so on the dare nevertheless?" X stated with concern. "The X-Hunters would never want that look on your face, and thus collecting the parts yourself will really be out of question. I know that you wanna brush yourself up, but there's something that I got to deal with personally…"

"Perhaps he was pondering of whether the X-Hunters are worthy enough to fight with. He just wants to test his fighting abilities," Boomer Kuwanger mused rationally.

"That's what I was considering of, Boomer," replied Flame Stag. "As I looked over the profiles from the Maverick database earlier on, I found many other maverick generals, including Overdrive Ostrich, to be less than worthy enough for me. So that's certainly the reason of why I would choose to fight the X-Hunters instead just to get my foot on the door."

"I think that sounds reasonable," said X thoughtfully. "Alrighty then, I'll ask Alia if she could be your temporary navigator for your today's mini mission, but Signas and I'll keep you situated once you begin. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Now's let's move out."

While X and Boomer Kuwanger are standing by beforehand, Flame Stag puts his dumbbell away, then picks up the remote to turn off the stereo and puts it aside. He and the two then head back to the elevator, and they left the bunker.

Several moments later, in the very center of the HQ's command center, X looks over Flame Stag who appears to be standing up attention.

"For your today's mission, I'll be delegating you a few objectives which you'll go after the X-Hunters to recover Zero's spare parts. Thus far, in accordance to what Dr. Cain had received a call thru a transmission recently, an X-Hunter, Serges, is located in the secret laboratory at your home base, which is the volcano. You will go there to search for him who has the part, and when you defeat him, you'll retrieve the part to us as promptly as possible. All of this will be the first objective for your today's mission, and the rest of the two X-Hunters will be your next separate objectives in which we'll discuss more later on. By the way when you have each part though, you'll contact me or Alia, and we'll take each of it to the laboratory along with the necessary tools to begin the repairs prior to the assimilation. Do you understand?" X explained as he made a briefing to Flame Stag.

"Yes sir!" replied Flame Stag eagerly once again.

X then turns to blonde haired, pink-armored female reploid, named Alia, who's still studying the maps thru a wide screen. She's one of the HQ's navigators who gives briefings to the Hunters about their missions and help them out through the areas, giving information of the objectives, recent developments, and located Mavericks.

"Alia," said X.

"Yes, X?" Alia replied with a nice, professional tone.

"Now that Flame Stag's back in our side, earlier on, I gave Flame Stag permission to help me take on the X-Hunters for the parts. So that'll be perhaps a perfect place for him to start putting his training into action. Would you mind to take care of him just for now?"

"Sure! Why not? That'll be great!"

"Alright, Flame Stag, all yours," said X while directing his hand to Alia, before he heads to the empty seat to sit next to her.

Flame Stag begins to walk close to Alia and stops with a slightly worried, yet determined look at his face. "Alia, my dear," he crooned while putting his hand on her right shoulder in deep empathy.

"'S good to have you back, Flame Stag," Alia replied with a sympathetic tone while putting her right hand to his touching hand. "Welcome aboard."

"Likewise, ma'am," replied Flame Stag and then goes on with an analytical tone. "Speaking of the X-Hunters whom I knew pretty well since I was their ally as a maverick by the way, I was wondering about what type of combat specialty do each of them may have in particular. Moreover, I knew pretty much way around the volcano typically where I will be in again to go after Serges, so I will guess that all of this'll be kind of the most straightforward objective for me."

"Good question. When you're going to face each of the X-Hunters in combat in the first place, look over their moves first, and then try to figure out something of how to defeat them, but at the same time though, since you're only here to help get Zero's parts and practice your skills, you know, please try to spare them for X because he'll be fighting them later on once he defeats all the rest of the maverick generals. Now you understand them all."

"Yes, ma'am. I was considering about all of that before you, and yes…I'll go easy on my fighting once I face them. I promise you that."

"Of course you will, Flame Stag. Other than that, it looks like you'll have the best start on your day. So, let's get you started." She gets down to the keyboard to set up the coordinates in the teleporter for Flame Stag.

"How's the volcano thus far, though?" Flame Stag asked.

"Well, after X just defeated you there last morning, Flame Stag, I looked thru its geothermal readings on the computer screen, and it looks like those tremors around there have greatly been subsided…In other words, no lava flow, no seismic activity, and no signs of eruption involved. So, you're good to go."

"Very well. I'll check in to make sure," said Flame Stag as he's heading towards one of the teleportation portals.

"You be careful there anyway, Stag," said Boomer Kuwanger.

"I will, Boomer," replied Flame Stag while give his hand salute to Boomer and rest of all the hunters before he turns back around to make his way towards one of the teleportation portals. Within a few seconds, he is teleported off to the volcano…

Here, Flame Stag falls down to top the pillar which sticks out from the foot of a volcano, and activates his flaming 'antlers' which they start shooting out from both sides of his head. Before he heads to the volcano though, he puts his finger against the right side of this head and manages to call Alia to request some info about Serges over the wireless intercom.

"Flame Stag to Alia. So was Dr. Cain certain thru his findings that there's an X-Hunter laboratory stationed within this volcano?"

"Yes, Flame Stag. Cain was right," replied Alias. "…and so now were my sensors as well. So you know how to locate him."

"Hmm… I don't remember exactly where his laboratory in spite of the signal, but I'm going to keep on looking around anyhow. Otherwise, I feel no rumblings around the volcano."

"Alright. Remind me when you found it. Just be careful on your way thru."

"Roger, ma'am."

Flame Stag hangs ups and starts sprinting forward as he's heading towards a large cliff wall until he encounters a big beetle mechaniloid, a Beetron. It hovers down towards him ready to ram him. Flame Stag kneels himself back and falls to the ground while lying down to let the Beetron ram over him, and it then flies straight forwards until it smashes thru the rock pillar BOOM!, and got blown into smithereens. He then gets up to his feet, heads back up the cliff, and then comes across the hole to get inside the volcano. Here, it gets really hot inside, and it's even hotter than a commercial pizza oven…but not for him really as he's just feeling alright there hence of being a fire reploid.

In here, Flame Stag dashes his way thru the corridors leaving a trail blaze, and when he lands on the metal bridge suspending over the boiling pool of molten lava, he kneels down and decides to take a closer look at it to check for signs of possible flowing. "Hmm…" Flame Stag mused while slightly squinting his eye lids. "No more rumblings thus far…Now the magma appears to boil kind of more gently, while not flowing most importantly. Anyway…Back to mission."

Within a matter of seconds, Flame Stag gets back up and manages to leap up from the platform and climb up thru the walls across the shaft with lightning fast speed. After moments of scaling, he leaps out of the lip of the shaft upfront.

After moments of resting, Flame Stag then gets up to his feet, revs up his flames, and moves ahead as he quickly leaps thru the two pillars across the lava river, all of which began sinking underfoot, and then lands on the opposite side near the river. He continues his way inside the volcano until he has encountered a hidden door to the X-Hunter's laboratory as he went up thru the upper corridor. Near to the door, Flame Stag turns on his radio intercom to call Alia. "Flame Stag to Alia. On the top floor thru the second entrance of the volcano, I've located the lab in where Serges might be here with the part. I'm going in," inquired Flame Stag.

"You be careful there," replied Alia.

"I will, dear."

Flame Stag hangs up and proceeds by entering the room. Here standing above the ground with a floating disk glider is a short X-Hunter, Serges, who looks like an old-man reploid covered in a cloak and wears a Ruskie-styled hat, standing on top of the floating glider, waiting for a challenge. As he approached him, he folds his hands on his back.

Serges gasped as his eyes widen in both surprise and disbelief. "Flame Stag… What's going on with you? I would expect more from X to meet with me!" He isn't very pleased to see that former maverick's turning his back on him now. Flame Stag would care less. "I decided to change my mind now, Serges. Pledging my allegiance to your so-called 'unification' has served me no purpose, but to make more of a threat out of me as your higher-up has become nowadays. Serving him would suggest going along of endangering innocent human lives, and besides…too much of my pride and curiosity have just stained my honor in the meantime. Now that I've got a true sense of who I'm really am, I've become a Maverick Hunter as of now. Haven't you realized the penalties of bringing back Zero in attempt of making him a maverick while planning to blow this volcano up to create a major disaster?"

"Well, haven't you for betraying us?!" scowled Serges angrily. "Your immense potential has made an indispensable asset to our unification, and turning on us would be your grave error of judgement! There's no way we can see charlatans like you interfering in our affairs! Now, either you are to send X to me or he'll lose his friend's parts!"

Flame Stag sighs a deep breath as he's had enough of Serges' whiny complaints. "I will choose neither of your options, wise X-Hunter," he said politely while folding his arms against his chest in a nonchalant way, and then goes on, "…because today, Commander X has just offered me a special gift of redemption…" He points his finger towards Serges. "…a chance…to fight you three…one by one, to collect the parts."

"So you give X's permission to aid with his mission, I presume! Well, sounds sincere, but why do you choose to turn your back on us?"

"I'm here to train myself, so I can best you X-Hunters in battle, and I might say that you three would be quite of ideal challenges to fight you." As he unfurls his arms, he makes his battle stance.

"Very well then…Let's get this over with," said Serges as he takes off his cloak and tosses aside.

Flame Stag starts things off by throwing a barrage of fire balls at Serges who then surrounded himself with a force field to deflect his shots while skating with his glider. "Nice try, Stag, but not quite," remarked Serges as he plants a mine which falls to the ground near to Flame Stag who then quickly gets himself out of the way as that mine blows up, leaving a small crater in place.

Flame Stag now believes that his ranged attacks would be of lesser use, as Serges, hence being the smartest X-Hunter, could 'force field' himself again to block incoming attacks. In that case, he would have to rely more on his wits than brawn to beat him. So, Flame Stag goes for "Plan B." Here, he manages to tactically move himself around the room in anticipation for the attack. Serges manages to fly around as well, all while the two reploids wound up orbiting other up. He goes on to dive-bomb over Flame Stag and plants another mine to the ground nearby him who then makes a quick back flip to move away, and the mine detonates.

After several moments of tactical movements, Flame Stag goes on once again to throw a couple more fireballs at Serges anyway in which one successfully hits, setting his face on fire. "AAAH!" shrieked Serges as he gets knocked back. He then goes on and leaps up from his moving glider to shoot a blitz of energy orbs from his hat, all at a full 360 degree turn, and back to his glider. Before the attack takes place in the meantime, Flame Stag, quickly thrusts himself forward and slides down underneath the glider in attempt for cover, but he still takes a shot from behind, and wounds up grunting in pain while clutching his wounded arm. That area attack looks a bit unpredictable… Stag mused. ...But as he seems to shoot only thru a vertical trajectory, I think it'll be easier for me to side step.

Serges turns back towards Flame Stag and glides his way through again before going on for another stream of energy shots. The latter, in the meantime, manages to quickly sidestep to avoid the shots. "Hmm… Your reflexes are getting better, yet your large size has still been making you an easy target," remarked Serges while gliding himself around Flame Stag at a greater distance.

"I'm just getting started, Serges," replied Flame Stag while sidestepping to orbit around Serges as the two get back to their usual maneuvering stances. Then a couple of moments later, he goes on. "…and by the way, in spite of your vast technical aptitude in which I had too…" While moving, he throws a couple of fireballs at him who then moves his own body to the left to avoid them. "…I presume that you're kind of…physically inferior," he finishes his sentence before reving up his rocketing forward to try to tackle him… Before that attack takes places though, Serges encases himself with a force field in which then Flame Stag wounds up hitting against it, *BONK!* and he falls back to the ground with a tumble.

"Speak for yourself," Serges remarked with a sneer before planting another mine to the ground just nearby Flame Stag and then quickly glides himself back away a distance. "I may be bit less than reflexive like you and Agile, but besides of what you've said previously, I'm nothing more of an expert thinker...more than yourself!"

 _He's right. I would take it back. Oh, how clumsy of me._

Meanwhile, Flame Stag, who quickly gets up, reacts with front flip over the mine before that blows up. Now, getting closer to Serges, takes a quick look at his glider before he returns fire with a couple of bigger fire balls aiming at it, in hopes of overheat it. However, that only makes Serges to once again leap off the glider to return fire with energy shots from his hat at all directions. Flame Stag backflips them away before getting back to his tactical maneuvering stance once again. He now noticed that Serges doesn't seem to have any offensive means of his own as he would have to rely more of his mechanical means to overcome such barriers.

 _Perhaps, I'll destroy that levitating vehicle..._ Flame Stag kneels down upon his rear as flames from many parts of his body begin flare up even more…

"SPEED BURNER!" bellowed Flame Stag before he rushes forward to reach for the glider. As he jumps and then finally got his hands on it, the intense heat from his body make it overheat at a steady rate. Serges starts to take notice as he wounds up getting his feet burnt from the now superhot glider. "A-AAGHH! Stop that!" he yelped before resorting to use his foot to frantically stomp Flame Stag in the head to try to push him off the edge of the glider, but does little to faze him as the latter's able to keep on heating it up while struggling to keep a tight grip.

"OW! OW! OW!" Serges shouted wildly before managing to plant another mine at Flame Stag after a brief scuffle on board, but he then even got his hand burnt upon touching the platform as he immediately yanks it away.

Flame Stag, seeing that as an opportunity, catches the dropped mine from underneath the glider and immediately sticks it right underneath. When he lets himself drop to the ground and then gets back a safer distance, Serges, in anticipation, leaps off the glider thru a backflip to the ground before the mine blows it up into smithereens, all while managing to fire energy shots at him. Afterwards, he then takes a few stomps to try to cool off his burnt feet.

"I was not thru with you yet..." said Serges before lowers his head to shoot a blitz of energy shots from his hat aiming at Flame Stag who then quickly sidesteps them away. While keep on orbiting around at the distance in a few moments, the latter returns fire by throwing a bigger fireball aiming to his hat, in which each blast have just send him tumbling thru the ground while setting him on fire. "AAH! Ow! Ow! Ow!" shrieked Serges as he wildly rolls thru the ground to try to smother out the flames before taking his burning hat off and tosses it aside. As his body gets a little more charred, he gets back up and dusts himself up before turning his attention to Flame Stag. "Arrr… Now I see... It seems that you're kind of skillful with your strategy aside your rather destructive fire, Flame Stag. Looks interesting by the way…Ow!" said Serges thankfully while still wincing from the burning pain.

"Thank you, Serges. By the way, I'm an Elite Hunter in spite of being a neophyte, let alone I'm a quick learner," replied Flame Stag, and he takes a couple of steps closer to Serges with his hands fold behind his back, and stops.

"Now by the time you get back to your base, tell your commander that I'm done being his subject, and that Zero will never be his again as well. But first, as per X's orders…" He then goes on with an ominous leer. "…You'll surrender Zero's part, then pack your things, and go. It's either these altogether…or getting reduced into molten slag." Such of those stinging words seem to flinch Serges a bit. "V-very well then, I will take the first option," he replied nervously as quickly heads to the control panel to do a series of deactivation controls. Within a few moments, the force bubble surrounding the object, which is actually Zero's head part, suddenly fades away, and as Flame Stag takes notice, he immediately grabs it with his single hand and carries it around his left arm.

Meanwhile, Serges then goes while feeling a bit more worried, "I-I don't know what else I could say about you, now Maverick Hunter Flame Stag, buuut…" By the time he tries to finish his sentence, his face has suddenly turned blank both in utter disbelief and hysteria as he just can't believe what that deer-headed traitor has just said. So he decides to call it quits, and he hurries to get his cloak, puts it back on, removes his flash drive from the computer, and suddenly vanishes out of sight.

With Serges gone, Flame Stag slowly lowers his head to take a look at Zero's damaged head part which he's holding and then raises it in front of his face. "Zero…I'm sorry… I-I heartily failed you… But, that's just a thing of past as I'm now reformed," he said in a soft, low, regretful tone of his voice. He then touches his finger against the right side of this head to calls X for the update. "Flame Stag to X. I've driven Serges off, and I have Zero's head part now, ready for pick up…"

"Good work, Flame Stag. I'll take that back to our base. Are you okay by the way?" X replied.

"Even though I just left with only a minor damage, I'm still pretty much alright. Anyway, with nothing much else going on around my place, I shall return to our base as well to take a brief rest before advancing to the next objective for the second part."

"Fair enough. Let's do that," X turns to Alia, "Alia, Flame Stag has completed his first objective, so can you send him back to our base, please?"

"Sure," Alia said as she has setting things up that is so Flame Stag could be sent back to the base. Now that the Maverick Hunter HQ has Zero's head part, Flame Stag will need to find two more parts to help them begin the revival process.

[End of First Objective]

 _To be continued in part 2…_

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 **A/N: **UPDATE AS OF 12/31/2018** The first part appears to be completed for now. I've spent almost a year trying to come up with ideas upon writing this very hard chapter, but I think I've made it just now. Reviews are motivator and will be highly appreciated!**


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